Yesterday on my return from the upper country I found your letter of the 8th. of April & immediately deposited with the clerk of the district court the copy of the title of your reports.

I am very glad to hear that Mr Small will undertake the printing you wished to put into his hands & think the terms you mention quite satisfactory.

I had gone through the corrections of the life of Washington & arranged the work into four volumes; the first to contain a history of all which precedes the appointment of General Washington to the command of the army; the 2d & 3d to comprehend his birth, his part in the French war, & the history of the war of the revolution after his appointment to the command of the American army. The 4th. to comprehend the matter now contained in the 5th but somewhat abridged. The volumes will be about the present size if printed in the same type, if in a smaller the editor can calculate much better than myself at the reduction which will take place. I should be unwilling to redue the type so much as to make the reading irksome. Mr Small however will decide on this point. The last volume will be somewhat reduced, but not in proportion to the other parts of the work. I am quite willing as I told you to take on myself the risk of the first volume & shall be glad to know what the expense will be.

I did not recover my health sufficiently to set in to close reading till I went to the upper country & shall in a few days set out for North Carolina, after which comes the long term in Richmond I shall however proceed with as much dispatch as is in my power in reading the letters. I will let you know what progress I make & shall be glad to hear from you again, if this reaches you in Philadelphia respecting the publishing the 2d ed. of the Life. I am dear Sir sincerely & affectionately your